FOOTBALL PREVIEW: Skins looking to lift spirits, C1 MORE IN SPORTS:Wildcats face Ripon, Bears take on Hughson,'Frogs play Western Sierra, C1
INSIDE:Nation and world news,A7
THE MOTHER LODE'SLEADING INFORMATION SOURCE SINCE 1854 • SO NORA, CALIFORNIA
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 18, 2015
Fowlertrial
Butte Fire
TOD AY'S READER BOARD
Crime scene
BRIEFING
Wellness
footage
prOgram —OphthalrnO(Ogia: Diet, smoking factor into risk of rnaclar degeneration.A2
shown
Butte Fire fundrBISing —Weekend
By TORI THOMAS
events to benefit Butte Fire victims.A3
The Union Democrat
Seen andHeard-
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This week's photo opinion asks, "What have you done to prepare for a wildfire?"A3
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Vital StatS — A ist of births, marriages and deaths recorded in Tuolumne County.A3
Car accidentWoman injured in Sonora rollover.A3
OPlnlOn — Rural tourism essential to California's economy; Rethinking a run for Joe Biden.A4 Guy McCarthy /Union Democrat
COMMUNITY
Firefighters from Williams Fire Department, Hamilton City Fire and other agencies with hoses hauled off property on Butte Mountain Road in Amador County, where Cal Fire said the Butte Fire started last week.
Residents believe they know where the devastating blaze started By GUY McCARTHY The Union Democrat
Butte Fire incident commanders and hundreds of
• NBN UFE BIBLE CHURCH:Sonora church gets new name. B1 • CENTENARIAN SOCIETY:Living to be 100 has its perks. One of those perks is induction into the Tuolumne County Commission on Aging's Centenarian Society. B1 • VETS' CORNER:Vietnam MIA ID'd, buried in Maine.B1 • FLASHBACK:The Union Democrat shares an unidentified file photo. Do you rereeber?B2 • RELIGION: Events and outreach in the Mother Lode.B3
crew bosses observed a mo-
ment of silence Thursday at Frogtown for two men found deceased the day before in homes destroyed by the giant blaze, which Cal Fire officials have now ranked as the 14th most damaging in California history. Cal Fire and Calaveras County sheriff's officials said they were working together to keep track of residents as they
See FIRE/Back Page
Hundreds
gather at Angels rally By JASON COWAN The Union Democrat
Pacific Gas Bc Electric crews Thursday repair lines and poles damaged by the Butte Fire along Mountain Ranch Road east of San Andreas.
Butte Five victims i enti Hutchinson, a ham (amateur) radio friend, says McCloud made a habit of overcoming life-threatening obstacles. Before the two met in the 1970s, McCloud suf-
thing," said Hutchinson, a Fresno County resident. "His personality changed a little bit there. Instead of a happy-goCalaveras County Coroner Kevin lucky guy, he was more serious and kind Raggio identified two residents of Caof got confused sometimes. He had to laveras County who fell victim to the fered a serious motorcycle have his ducks all in a row, sort of thing." nine-day-old Butte Fire, both of whom accident that l e him McCloud — who was said to be very refused to leave their houses within without half of his right intelligent — became a bit stubborn, mandatoryevacuation zones. leg. Although Hutchinson due to the stroke, according to Hutchinsays it was not noticeable McC loud son. As the blaze burned close to his — McCloud hardly walked home andmandatory evacuations were Mark Md:loud with a limp due to a prosthetic leg. In issued to the area, residents urged him Mark McCloud, 65, was a survivor. addition to the accident, McCloud sur- toleave,butherefused. "He stayed up there to protect his Prior to his death when his residence vived a stroke that required brain suron Baker Riley Way in Mokelumne Hill gery about 10 years ago. "He survived the stroke and everywas engulfed by the Butte Fire, Jim See VICTIMS / Back Page By JASON COWAN The Union Democrat
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ties, where 626 structures,including 365 homes, had been counted as destroyed as of Thursday evening. The Sheriff's Office has set up a Butte Fire Missing Persons Hotline, at 754-6345. The smoldering burn area was said to be 55 percent contained Thursday night,
Senator TomBenyhill (R). State Senate District 14: 4641 Spyres, Suite 2, Modesto, CA 95356; 576-6470. Two-year term ends 2016. AssemblymanFrankBigelow (R). Congressional District 5: 33-C Broadway, Jackson, CA 95642. Phone: 91 6-319-2005 or 209-223-0505.Two-year term ends 2016.
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See TRIAL / Back Page
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An unheralded number of peoplepacked the streets of downtown Angels Camp with vivid, colorful signs Thursday morning to express gratitude to those fighting the Butte Fire. For a brief time — between
8 and 10 a.m.— the community's adversity and struggles in the midst of the Butte Fire did not seem to matter. The only thing that was important to the hundreds of Mother Lode residents in attendance as waves of firefighting, law enforcement and other fireprevention agencies passed by, was who could voice appreciation loudest; who could waive their signs with the most passion. The display of thanks to those either traveling from base camp at Frogtown to fight the fire or returning from the battle was charged with emotion. In fact, it was so See RALLY/Back Page
Today:High 66, Low 49 Saturday:High 93, Low 52 Sun d ay:High97,Low59
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Video footage was shown Thursday of the crime scene where Leila Fowler, 8, was found lying on her b e d room Hoor in a pool of blood in her Valley Springs home in April 2013. Fowler S uff e r i n g from multiple stab wounds, she died less than an hour later. The boy accused of her murder was 12 years old at the time of the incident. The defendant, now 15, whose name is not being used because he is a minor, is standing trial in Calaveras County Superior Court for the April 27, 2013, murder. He was arrested May 11, 2013, and charged with second-degree murder. Video footage of an investigation of Fowler's Rippon Road home was played in court Thursday — the third day of the trial. The trial, which is esti-
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